Consumers scramble as Pennsylvania liquor stores set to close over coronavirus concerns

All Pennsylvania Fine Wine & Good Spirits stores will close at 9 p.m. Tuesday to help combat the spread of covid-19, the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board announced.

Stores in Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties in eastern Pennsylvania — among the hardest-hit in the state — already were slated to close after business concluded Monday. The PLCB said stores normally closed on Tuesdays will remain closed.

At the Fine Wine & Good Spirits store in Frazer, lines wrapped around the aisles as some stocked up on hundreds of dollars worth of alcohol.

That’s if they even went inside to begin with.

The long lines and quickly emptying shelves deterred Brenda and Bill Tedder of Plum. After they spent two minutes inside, they walked out empty-handed.

“We were just going to pick up a little bit, and it’s not worth the wait,” Brenda Tedder said. “It’s making me paranoid, all those people in there. We’ll just wait till tomorrow closer to home.”

Had the Tedders waited in line, they may have experienced the same camaraderie Tracie Brockhoff of Dayton, Armstrong County, felt.

Brockhoff said she spent 15 minutes in the store, including waiting to check out with her bottle of wine.

“They’re all saying they just want to enjoy their time, and if they have to be home, they want to have a little alcohol,” Brockhoff said of her fellow consumers. “We were all joking that we weren’t going to drink it, we’re going to use it to clean the surfaces.”

Online sales ended at 5 p.m. Monday to phase down operations at the Montgomery County fulfillment center, the PLCB said.

“This was a tremendously difficult decision to make, and we understand the disruption our store closures will have on consumers and licensees across the commonwealth,” PLCB Chairman Tim Holden said. “But in these uncertain and unprecedented times, the public health crisis and mitigation effort must take priority over the sale of wine and spirits, as the health and safety of our employees and communities is paramount.”

The PLCB will reevaluate operations toward the end of the month in conjunction with Gov. Tom Wolf’s office and the Pennsylvania Department of Health.